Volume 1, Issue 1 - Teach American History

Page 36
East Tennessee History Day Dispatch
“How Important ‘IS’ my Process Paper?” (cont.)
Annotated bibliography). I would also strongly advise that students end their Process Paper with a word count
in parenthesis, for example (498 words). It just adds a nice touch to an overall solidly organized Process Paper.
Last, but not least. The section “how my project relates to the NHD theme” is the most important of the four
sections of Process Paper. It is within this section that students should focus their attention. 200 words might be
a good benchmark for students to aim for on this section, with 100 or less words devoted to each of the first 3
sections. In the relation to theme section, students should think about the subtitle of the theme very carefully.
For example, 2010’s theme is “Innovation in History: Impact and Change.” Students should focus at least 2 or
3 sentences in answering the question “what was the immediate impact?” of their topic. Then, they should focus
1 or 2 sentences on answering “what was the change?” or “what was the significance of their topic on history
since?”
Take a moment to look over your student’s Process Papers before they compete on contest day. The Process
Paper may in fact be the component of a student’s NHD project that enables them to advance on to the next
level of competition, or be the component that holds them back.
In the Fall issue of the East Tennessee History Day Dispatch, we will take an in-depth look into the
Annotated Bibliography.
TEACHERS, GOT NEWS???
Have your students’ History Day success, or perhaps yourself,
appeared in print this past year or in past years? If so,
please let us know. Each year, the successes of East Tennessee
students are reported in numerous city, county, and
local newspapers, as well as school district newsletters and
or websites.
Many teachers submit articles to their local press, and, if
we are fortunate enough to catch wind of the piece, we will
obtain a copy for our records at the East Tennessee Historical
Society (ETHS). Each year the ETHS’s staff collects
copies of newspapers and prints out online articles related
to East Tennessee History Day students. Collecting these
articles is very important as we approach prospective sponsors
and state legislators to provide funding assistance for
National History Day not only in the region, but also
throughout the state. We also include copies of articles in
packets mailed to sponsors each year for cash awards and
door prizes.
These student articles are vital pieces in our arsenal as we
highlight the success of the NHD program in Tennessee. If
Newspaper copies of NHD in East Tennessee—
East Tennessee Historical Society’s
NHD Archives.
you have copies of stories related to NHD in your
classroom, please let us know. We would very
much appreciate obtaining a copy for our records.